Secrets of Allentown Tour of Historic Homes!

The 2005 Secrets of Allentown tour of homes will showcase the interiors of eighteen of the best properties that have been featured in the past ten years.  Between 1994 and 2004, more than 140 properties have been included in the tour.  Event organizers, Chris Brown and Bill Mahr, reviewed the lists and selected the sites that received the highest praise from tour goers over the years.  Many of these home owners have continued to remodel and redecorate their homes.  According to Brown, “This year’s Secrets of Allentown will be the most spectacular home tour in Allentown’s history.”

And to make the event even more attractive, ticket prices have been rolled back to the 1990’s level.  Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 the day of the event.  “We heard what people want loud and clear:  great houses, beautifully decorated, and an affordable ticket price,” stated Mahr.  $12 tickets may be purchased at Eminent Design, 191 Allen Street, and NEO, 55 Allen Street.  Tickets may also be purchased at Tickets.com, TOPS and Martin’s food markets.  Please note that there is an additional service charge for tickets purchased online or at TOPS or Martin’s.

Tickets will also be available for purchase on the day of the event at the starting point for $15.  The starting point for this year’s tour is the Butler Mansion, 672 Delaware Avenue, at North Street.  The Butler Mansion is the home of the UB Jacobs Executive Development Center.  Tickets will go on sale at 10:30 a.m. for same-day purchase.  Those with tickets already may pick up their tour booklets beginning at 10:30 a.m. on September 25^th.

Ticket holders will also receive the following extras at no cost:

• Free admission to the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site on Sunday, September 25.
• A 10% discount at sixteen Allentown restaurants.
• Free wine tasting starting at 12 noon.

To aid those who may need some assistance in getting around, there is a free trolley service which will make designated stops throughout the tour area in a continuous loop.  And all parking restrictions are lifted throughout Allentown on the day of the event.  You can park on both sides of every street, so there’s plenty of free, convenient parking.

“This will be the home tour of the decade.  There’s been a lot of imitators who have come along, but no one does it better than Allentown” stated Gretchan Grobe, current Board President.  For those who may not be familiar with the event, the Allentown Association has been sponsoring a home tour since the 1970s.  Up until 1996, the event was held biannually.  In 1996 it became an annual event.  Free wine tasting and restaurant discounts for ticket holders also distinguish the Allentown event from others in Western New York.

You can go on the tour for FREE by being a volunteer house sitter.  Volunteers work a three-hour shift and get to see the homes for free during the other three hours.  If interested in being a volunteer house sitter, please contact Kym Mosgeller at: allntown@localnet.com.